When some Knights were having trouble finding their range Jackson Puetz stepped up with a scoring punch for Fieldcrest during the McLean County Tournament a few weeks ago.

When the Knights were off their marks Tuesday, it was Puetz who came to the rescue again, this time in a 56-43 victory over Peoria Christian at the Class 2A Eureka Regional.

“Jackson did a great job. He’s a big-game shooter,” FHS head coach Matt Winkler said.

Fieldcrest’s shooting was not sharp, especially early. But there was no panic. All it took was Puetz to come off the bench and knock down a few shots for the Knights to get going.

Puetz scored Fieldcrest’s first points on a pull-up jumper with four minutes to go in the first quarter. This came after the Chargers had built a 9-0 lead.

Christian still took advantage of the Knights’ poor shooting by building a 14-2 advantage in the final minute of the opening frame. It was a 14-5 game when the quarter ended.

“They played well coming out of the shoot and we didn’t,” Winkler said.

Puetz buried a couple of 3-pointers early in the second period as Fieldcrest began its comeback climb. Puetz’s second triple cut the Chargers’ deficit to 18-13.

“We had some good looks we just didn’t him early until Jackson started hitting,” Winkler said.

Freshman Drew Barth contributed to the rally with six straight FHS points as the deficit narrowed to 21-19 with 3:24 left in the half.

Barth’s final basket of the first half came as time ran out to give the Knights their first lead of the game.

All the while, stars Brady Sanders and Kyle Crowley were not hitting. Neither was Cole Klendworth, who was being hassled inside and not getting much to go.

Crowley made his first basket in the last minute of the first half. Sanders didn’t score until he made two free throws three minutes into the third quarter.

But the Knights had some momentum and Puetz. The Chargers led 33-29 after three lead changes in the third quarter, but baskets by Nick Panzica and Puetz tied it at 33-33 with 3:23 left.

Puetz was sitting in the corner when Sanders found him for a 3-pointer to put the Knights ahead 36-33. It was part of what became a 22-point run that pretty much put the game away for Fieldcrest.

Page 2 of 2 - Puetz added another 3-pointer from the other side and Sanders added his first field goal as FHS had a 41-33 lead heading into the last stanza.

Crowley contributed to the run with a pair of baskets and a free throw in the first 34 seconds of the fourth quarter. He added another basket to cap the huge run and give the Knights a 51-33 advantage.

All of Fieldcrest’s scoring in the fourth quarter came from Crowley and Sanders.